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No Russian Imperialism (History of Margovya)
No Russian Imperialism is a Margovyan alternate history in which does not invade Margovia, and the country remains Hispanicized instead of becoming a bastion of Russification in South America. No Russian Attack Instead of declaring war on Margovia in 1891, Alexander III decided that the effort of invading a nation in the middle of South America was not worth the effort, and he decided to prepare for war with Japan instead. Because of this, the Nation and Government of Margovia managed to survive for at least one more year, and then a group of Army officers dissatisfied with the way the Council of Ministers was running the country decided that it would be much better if they were running the show. Coup of 1892 On the night of October 1, 1892, twenty regiments of Margovian line infantry, led by El Coronel Telesforo Jimenez Costas, walked down the Avenida de la Nación and commanded his three regiments of 12-pounder cannons to fire on the Margovian Palace. The 5th, 6th, and 10th Council's Dragoons sallied out to meet the rebels, but massed rifle fire and the surprise appearance of the National Regiment of Pikemen on the rebels' side decimated the cavalry and forced them to pull back. Loyalist infantry from the bases north of the capital city rushed to meet the rebel force, but the sheer number of enemy forces utterly annihilated the loyalists. Colonel Jimenez brazenly entered the Margovian Palace, stormed the Council Chambers, and declared the disbandment of the Council of Ministers and the erection of its replacement, the Military Junta of Margovia. Chief Minister Julio Soledad protested Colonel Jimenez's announcement, for which he received a summary execution. As the rest of the ministers were chained and brought to jail, Colonel Jimenez sat down in the Chief Minister's seat, and declared the establishment of the Military Republic of Margovia. Agbayani's Rebellion For almost thirty years, the Military Junta of Margovia, led by Telesforo Jimenez, ruled the country. However, on January 4, 1921, Colonel Jimenez died of natural causes at the age of 67. El Coronel Eleuterio Elizalde Zamora was named the successor, but unknown to the junta, El Coronel Basilio Agbayani, son of the late El Coronel Mariano Agbayani Lopez of the Military Junta, had formed the Alliance to Restore Democracy to the Nation of Margovia with twenty other officers, with the intention of overthrowing the junta and restoring democratic rule to the country. The country was split between the Democrats and the Junta, until the Junta's citadel in Icól finally fell to the Democratic Alliance, and Colonel Elizalde surrendered to Colonel Agbayani. Agbayani, being the recognized leader of the Democratic Alliance, was named the first president of the new Republic of Margovia. The twenty-one members of the Democratic Alliance: #El Coronel Juan Basilio Mariano Agbayani de los Santos #El Coronel Juan Antonio Armando Isidro Mariano Pozzorubio #El Coronel Leon Maria Calvin de Porvenir #El Coronel Bartolomeo Bacundo Donato Berdugo #El Coronel Eleazar Narciso Carruthers Ibanez #El Coronel Adriano Adriatico Calabazas #El Coronel Nicolas Ernesto Juarez Hizon #El Coronel Jose Benito Emanuel Sanchez Malonzos #El Coronel Pablo Fulgencio Zobel de Santa Ana #El Coronel Juan Federico dos Talinhos Teixeira #El Coronel Pedro Alfredo Pardo Suarez #El Coronel Jose Basilio Buenaventura de Salazar #El Coronel Edilberto Manuel Cobarrubias Altamira #El Comodoro Tomas Alejandro Rivadavia Blanco #El Capitan Sebastian Amor de San Carlos #El Capitan Jovito Consuelo Anderson Palacio #El Capitan Maximo Nonato Dominguez #El Capitan Juan Benito Morales Peralta #El Teniente Coronel Ramon Fernando San Carlos de Santander #El Teniente Coronel Ulises Rodrigo Garcia Zapata #El Teniente Coronel Telemaco Gregorio Huesca Yarayo ATL changes to Margovyan presidencies El Coronel Juan Basilio Mariano Agbayani de los Santos announced the end of the Military Republic of Margovia and its replacement with the free and democratic Republic of Margovia on March 31, 1923. He was sworn in as the first president of the new nation on April 6, and one of his first acts as president was to move the nation's capital from Ciudad Arbat to the citadel city of Icól. On his orders, the surviving members of the military junta were tried in a massive court martial that inevitably charged them guilty of abuse of powers accorded with their ranks and sentenced to dishonorable discharges and between fifteen to fifty years imprisonment. On April 28, 1923, the last remnants of the Junta forces finally surrendered to Colonel Agbayani, and the Margovian Revolution was finally over. The revolution had devastated Margovya economically and emotionally, with farms razed, pastures burned, and people still divided by their allegiances, so Agbayani initiated reconstruction and rehabilitation programs to help the nation get back on its feet. On May 21, 1923, Agbayani signed the 1923 Constitution, also known as the Independence Day Constitution, which is the constitution currently recognized by the Margovian government. However, even though the Constitution called for a democratically elected president, it took time to educate the Margovian people on the merits of a leader elected by the masses, and therefore Agbayani's rule began the historical period known as "The Regime of the Three Colonels." Agbayani suffered a heart attack on June 27, 1926, and died soon after. Colonel Juan Mariano, Agbayani's de facto second-in-command during the Revolution, was named the new president of Margovia by the Democratic Alliance, although Lieutenant Colonel Agustín San Pablo protested Mariano's nomination and countered that he should be the new president. The rest of the Alliance merely laughed at San Pablo's self-nomination and inaugurated Mariano on June 28. El Coronel Juan Antonio Armando Isidro de Mariano Pozzorubio was sworn in as the second president of Margovia on June 28, 1926. He was only supposed to rule the country until elections could take place, but he managed to stay in power for almost six years, and it was very possible that he could have been in power longer had he not been assassinated by Agustín San Pablo and his followers on February 28, 1932. During his time as president though, Margovia continued to experience progress as the country rebuilt itself from the devastation of the Margovian Revolution. More programs such as the implementation of the Social Welfare Act of 1930 improved Margovia's standard of living, and the land distribution programs of 1929 provided low-income Margovian farmers a chance to contribute to the country's coming economic resurrection in the face of the Great Depression. On September 6, 1927, the Rodriguez District was split into two, San Lucas and Querudía. On September 9, 1930, Mariano signed the Minimum Wage Act of 1930, which decreed that the lowest income that a Margovian citizen should earn is 950 margots (then equivalent to US$865.50). On July 21, 1931, Mariano announced that Margovia will finally make the transition from a mostly agricultural country to an industrial one, as the continued growth of the economy had finally made it possible, and Margovia was declared one of the fastest developing countries in South America in 1932. Mariano also arguably helped to sow the seeds of militarism into Margovian culture. As a firm believer in the power of the armed forces to protect and defend Margovian sovereignty, Mariano increased the budget allocation of the Ministry of Defense to ten million margots, a very large sum at the time. This allowed the country to acquire some of the time's best military equipment. Mariano also reintroduced conscription, which Basilio Agbayani was opposed to including in the Constitution back in 1923. All male Margovian citizens who are nineteen years old must serve four years in the Armed Forces, though in reality this only applied to the Army and Navy, as the Margovian Air Force, which was created in 1927, would only accept volunteers to what was essentially a deadly profession. On February 28, 1932, while watching a fireworks display commemorating the birth of the Margovian libertador Bernardo Carruthers, Juan Mariano and some members of his entourage were killed when Agustín San Pablo and his followers opened fire on the presidential yacht with a Vickers machine gun mounted on the fireworks barge. Even though San Pablo was eventually killed in a battle with the Margovian Army and his followers were arrested, there was no denying that President Juan Mariano and seven ministers were dead. Juan Arbat El Coronel Juan Egidio Arbat Pérez became the third president of the Republic of Margovia on February 29, 1932, a day after Juan Mariano was assassinated. Arbat promised that his term will be the last term of the Colonels of the Democratic Alliance, even though he was not a member of said alliance during the Margovian Revolution. Arbat became the first ethnic president of Margovia, even though he was elected by the Democratic Alliance and not the people of Margovia, but his cultural heritage and promise to finally implement free elections in the country made him the most popular leader of Margovia at the time, second only to Basilio Agbayani, who had been posthumously declared "the Father of Free Margovia." Arbat had initially planned to re-abolish conscription, but with the breakout of the on September 9, 1932 between Bolivia and Paraguay, Arbat was forced to keep conscription active so that he can send troops to aid Bolivia, which had sought a military alliance with Margovia after Bolivia lost its Pacific territories to Chile during the War of the Pacific in 1879 (not to be confused with World War Two's Pacific War). Margovia also had a vested interest in Bolivia conquering the Gran Chaco region, through which the Paraguay River flows, as control of this region would give the conquering nation access to the Atlantic Ocean and transoceanic trade. The military alliance between Margovia and Bolivia had also included a trade agreement, in which both countries agreed to trade each other's products through their trade routes. Since Margovia is on the Amazon River and therefore has access to the Atlantic, some ministers in Arbát's cabinet felt that Margovia had the short end of the stick, in that Bolivian products were being traded to other countries through Margovian ports. The Minister of War at the time, El Teniente Coronel Julio Alejandro Bería, cited this as the main reason why Margovia should join the Chaco War on the side of Bolivia. If Bolivia could gain access to the Paraguay River, then Margovian goods could finally be traded from Bolivian ports, equalizing the trade agreement, which had been controversial even back in the days of the Junta. 25,000 Margovian soldiers, arranged by the Army into the Margovian Expeditionary Force to the Chaco, began arriving in the frontlines on June 19, 1933. They helped the Bolivians beat back a large Paraguayan force besieging Tarija in August of the same year, but eventually both forces were beaten back by a prolonged land assault and the Margovians' early experiences with the new Paraguayan hand grenades, the carumbe'i. The Margovian Air Force also assisted the Bolivians by providing them with twenty Curtiss Falcon attack aircraft and five Boeing P-26 Peashooter fighter aircraft on January 1934. Three Falcons flown by Margovians, five Falcons flown by Bolivians, and one P-26 flown by Margovian ace Lando Casimiro were shot down by the Paraguayans, and Casimiro was captured and ransomed back to Margovia for 7,000 margots. The MEFC withdrew from the area in March 1935, but a few regiments remained under Bolivian service until the war's end in June 12, 1935, after which they returned to Margovia. Meanwhile, on the homefront, Margovia continued to blossom as an industrializing country. On 1933, the Margovian margot became stronger than the US dollar (1 margot = $1.12 in 1934 values), although critics later attributed this to the Great Depression still affecting much of the United States and the world. In 1934, Margovia became one of the largest military powers in both South America and the Southern Hemisphere, although the large size of its military and the first effects of the Great Depression in the country would eventually cripple Margovia later on. , Arbat's daughter and a leading women's suffragist in Margovia, successfully managed to lobby the provincial council of Bonjoaya into giving women in the province the right to vote. This led to a domino effect among Margovia's thirty provinces, and ten provinces finally gave women the right to vote in 1935. Juan Arbat formally stepped down from the presidency on April 6, 1935, when Ireneo Amaro was elected the new president by Margovia's first free elections. Thus he ended the Regime of the Three Colonels. Ireneo Amaro El Coronel Julián Ireneo Teodoro Amaro Larranzilla was elected the fourth president of the Republic of Margovia on April 6, 1935. He ran under the banner of the Liberal Party of Margovia, which was one of many parties who vied for the presidency after the restoration of democratic rule in the country. Amaro garnered 79.51 percent of the votes, making his election one of the largest electoral victories in Margovian history. A devout follower of Basilio Agbayani, he firmly believed that more could be done for Margovia, and that he could improve the country's economy even more even in the face of the Great Depression. He had a grand vision which he called the "Three Years to Ultimate Prosperity," and some of its aims were to create an unbelievable one hundred percent increase in gross domestic product, and increasing the value of the Margovian margot until it was worth at least one hundred US dollars. Unfortunately, by this time, the Great Depression had finally reached Margovia, and with the high level of American investment in the country, the economy soon followed the worldwide downward trend. Amaro tried to alleviate the effects of the depression by creating more industrialization programs throughout the country, but this didn't stop many people from growing resentful of the current government, and there were many popular demonstrations all over Margovia throughout Amaro's term, although many protesters stopped to eat at government soup kitchens before resuming their protests. At least three coups attempted to depose Amaro, only for all to fail. The first attempt was by a large group of civilians calling themselves the Army of the Economy, and they tried to storm the Icól Citadel through the force of sheer numbers, but the police responded by shooting at the civilians, killing at least two hundred. Many of the police officers involved in the massacre were tried and sentenced to either life imprisonment or the death penalty, but Amaro's government remained unpopular. The second attempt was made by veterans of the Chaco War, who demanded that the state pay them their wages for services rendered during the war. The Margovian Army, which had been brought in to suppress the revolt, could not bring themselves to fire on their comrades, so it was once again the police's job to open fire on the veterans. One hundred seventy-five veterans were killed in the police response, and Amaro's popularity plunged even further. Finally, in 1937, both the people and the Army tried to rise up against the Amaro administration. As the people stormed the Icól Citadel and the Army guarded all roads leading in and out of the capital city, they found out that Amaro had been evacuated by the National Police to Ciudad Arbat, and that the police was waiting to face them in one of the biggest battles of the Interwar Period. In the end, ten thousand soldiers, seven thousand policemen, and fifteen thousand civilians had been killed in the Second Battle of Icól. By the end of Amaro's term, Margovia's GDP had plumetted, while the margot once again became weaker against the US dollar with $1 being equal to 19.78 margots (1938 values). Amaro's grand vision of "Three Years to Ultimate Prosperity" came crashing down with the GDP, but his efforts to improve the country's heavy industry would eventually pay off and help with the country's recovery in the 1940s and 1950s. Because of country's economic collapse, Amaro humbly decided not to run for the 1938 presidential elections, and the Liberal Party of Margovia also decided not to send forth a candidate, as their popularity with the people had fallen along with Amaro's. Meanwhile, Amaro's daughter , another prominent women's suffragist, was one of the first women elected to the Margovian Senate, alongside compatriot Juana Arbat. Together, they got the Senate to give all Margovian women the right to vote, but universal suffrage in Margovia would not happen until after World War Two. José Baldomero Basilio Gonzalo Agbayani de Antonio became the fifth president of the Republic of Margovia on April 6, 1938 in the largest electoral victory ever in the history of Margovia, with 91.21 percent of the votes. Modern-day analysts and critics attribute this massive victory with Agbayani's heritage as the son of the Father of Free Margovia, Basilio Agbayani. Agbayani made the then-controversial decision to continue Ireneo Amaro's economic policies, although he eventually decided that only Amaro's heavy industry programs were worth continuing. He also re-abolished conscription, citing that the cost of maintaining a large army was one of the main causes of the Margovian economy's downfall in the preceding years. By downsizing the force from 55,000 personnel to a paltry 13,000, Agbayani hoped to stem the tide of money flowing out of the Margovian treasury. His efforts proved fruitful, as by 1939, Margovia's GDP had increased by 1.91%. Even though this was nowhere near the GDP levels pre-Depression, Agbayani hailed the tiny increase as a step in the right direction; namely, economic recovery. Unfortunately for Agbayani, the clouds of war were brewing in distant Europe and Asia. While Juan Arbat and Ireneo Amaro had officially declared Margovia neutral in the years leading up to the Second World War, Agbayani was openly pro-Allied, and he made every effort to sell Margovian goods to the United States and the United Kingdom, although ironically, Japan was the main market for Margovian oil, and the second-largest importer of Margovian grains and fresh fruit. When the United States embargoed Japan in 1940, the Japanese managed to somehow get around this by transporting goods bound for Japan in Margovian freighters, even though Agbayani had suspended all shipments to Japan in accordance with the Allies' will. The Japanese ambassador to Margovia, Kenichiro Bessho, tried to get Agbayani to lift his part of the embargo, but Agbayani was adamant that the embargo should remain in place. On March 1, 1940, while Agbayani was speaking at a nationalist rally in Ruma Pontíval, Agbayani Province, he was shot in the chest by Simone Montepietro, an Italian immigrant who was actually an agent of the German , tasked with the killing of Agbayani. The president was rushed to the hospital, but he eventually succumbed to his wounds after six hours of surgery. His vice president, , son of former president Ireneo Amaro, became the new president of Margovia. Ladislao Luis Jerónimo Ireneo Amaro Barraquiel became the sixth president of the Republic of Margovia on March 1, 1940, hours after the death of the previous president, . On March 2, Amaro came close to becoming "The One-Day President" as Simone Montepietro, Agbayani's assassin, also made an attempt on his life. Fortunately for him, Montepietro was captured before he could do the deed, but the assassin committed suicide by ingesting cyanide hidden inside his tooth before he could be questioned. Investigators would later discover that Montepietro was actually in the employ of the Abwehr, and that he had been sent to Margovia to "eliminate" "persons of interest" that were detrimental to healty Margovian-Axis relations. Because of this, Amaro, who before assuming the presidency had been ambiguous in his dealings with both the Allies and the Axis, decided that it was time for Margovia to declare war on the Axis. However, the declaration of war failed to pass through Congress, and after three tries, Amaro gave up and instead declared his neutrality in what had become the Second World War. Amaro was reelected on April 6, 1941, and he now had a stronger, more united Congress to back him up. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, Amaro once again attempted to pass legislation declaring war on the Axis Powers. This time, it was passed with an overwhelming majority, and the Republic of Margovia officially declared that a state of war exists between it and the three main Axis Powers nations, Germany, Italy, and Japan, on December 10. Because of this, Amaro reintroduced conscription once again, but he set a new limit on the size of the armed forces, increasing it to 17,000 men in active service. 7,000 of these soldiers would eventually be formed into the Margovian Expeditionary Force to the Pacific, which would be sent to fight in the Pacific Theater of World War Two alongside the Allies, becoming the second nation in South America, after Brazil, to send troops to fight in the war. The MEFP fought from January to June 1945, participating in the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines and the Battle of Okinawa. They sustained an estimated 645 casualties, and captured almost 1,300 enemy soldiers, 153 enemy officers, and one or two general officers (though this is disputed up to today). Back in Margovia, its capital Icól and its largest city Cuidad Arbat had become battlefields, not between soldiers, but between spies. Icól itself was rumored to have housed the second-largest number of spies in a South American city, with only Buenos Aires in Argentina surpassing it. The Margovian citizens, who had become used to rationing thanks to the failure of the Ireneo Amaro administration, coped well with the time's war rationing programs. The Army kept control over all of the country, but they were not excessive in exercising their powers. Ladislao Amaro also announced a project to create a new presidential residence, as the Icól Citadel had been too large and too undefendable for his tastes. Out of 5,000 designs, he chose the one created by Gaspar Ortiz, who took inspiration from America's White House and Argentina's Casa Rosada, also known as the "Pink House." Construction of the palace began in 1944, but would not be completed until 1948. The Margovian Congress suspended the 1944 presidential elections, citing that they have decided that the current president will serve the country well for the entire duration of the war. After World War Two ended in 1945, Congress removed its suspension on presidential elections, and members of Amaro's Margovian Federalist Party asked him to run for president again for the 1947 elections, but he refused, as he believed that he had already served Margovia to the best of his ability through his seven years in the position. On April 6, 1947, Baldo Máximo Teodorico de San Andres de Tortuga was inaugurated as the seventh president of Margovia. He was the first president elected after the Congressional suspension of national elections during World War Two, and the first person to be elected as president without having had another political position. De San Andres served two terms as president, and he oversaw Margovia's economic reconstruction and resurrection as it finally began to recover from the effects of the Great Depression and Ireneo Amaro's doomed "Three Years to Ultimate Prosperity" program. In 1953, de San Andres refused to run for a third term, deciding to retire from further political activity. Because of this, he endorsed his vice president Juan Gregorio as the Socialist Party of Margovia candidate. However, Gregorio was defeated by the Colorado Party of Margovia candidate Andres de Quilla. De San Andres's term is probably the least eventful presidential term in Margovian history, with the most notable moment being the completion of the Gran Palacio de la República in 1948, also known as the Margovian Palace, which de San Andres made the new presidential residence. After his brief moment in the limelight as president, Máximo de San Andres quietly slipped back into obscurity. Juan Andrés Tomás Victorino de Quilla Salví became the eighth president of Margovia on April 6, 1953. During his term as president, the country faced many problems, such as the rise in number of corrupt government officials, which partially led to the decline of the country's economy, as the Margovian margot nosedived to a low 38.50 margots for US$1 in 1955. Also, as a democratic socialist, he initiated diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1954, and he and Soviet Foreign Minister signed a trade agreement between the two countries on August 15, 1954. His decision to diplomatically recognize the Soviet Union did not sit well with many Margovians, however, and eventually the provinces of De Quilla del Norte and De Quilla del Sur united to form the De Quilla Republic, which intended to secede from de Quilla's "communist republic." In 1956, de Quilla ran for a second term as president, but he was defeated by Representative of the newly-formed Margovian Distinct Party of Activists, a coalition of small parties that united to challenge the country's four main political parties (Liberal, Colorado, Federalist, and Socialist). Andréa de Quilla, de Quilla's sister, became the first female vice president of Margovia when she was elected alongside her brother. She grew up following the ideals of Margovia's great women's suffragists like Juana Arbat and Irina Amaro, and she followed in their footsteps when she was elected. Through her efforts, Encantado Province, the last province in Margovia that did not give women the right to vote, finally gave women that right on July 19, 1955. As she was elected to a second term as vice president, it is possible that she would have initiated more reforms to improve women's rights had she not been shot by an unknown assassin in Tramvitum while on her way to a press conference on April 5, 1956, one day before Demetrio Antonio's inauguration as president. The De Quilla Republic Andrés de Quilla's election to the presidency was not a popular move for some of Margovia's rightist politicians. Some of these politicians, like Governor Edilberto Fandorín Súsuman of De Quilla del Norte and Governor Joaquín Panér Huerta of De Quilla del Sur, finally decided that they had had enough of the "closet communist sitting in the chair once occupied by the Father of Free Margovia," and the two united their provinces and made a unilateral declaration of independence on September 28, 1955 as the República de Quilla. The De Quilla Republic existed as an unrecognized state from September 28, 1955 to April 1, 1956, when Margovian Army troops moved into the republic's capital of Irásanca and peacefully removed Fandorín and Panér from power. José Demetrio Honorio Roberto de Antonio Serrano became the ninth president of Margovia on April 6, 1956. As the first president from the ranks of the newly-created Margovian Distinct Party of Activists (Spanish: Partido Distinto Margoviano de Activistas), a coalition of small parties that united to form a single front against the four foremost political parties in Margovia at the time (Liberal Party, Colorado Party, Federalist Party, and Socialist Party), there was much pressure on him to turn around the misfortunes of the Andrés de Quilla administration and restore Margovia's economic resurrection, which progress has been halted by widespread corruption in de Quilla's administration. Antonio spent a considerable amount of the presidential federal budget (300 million margots) in reinstituting the economic programs that worked so well in the time of Basilio Agbayani and Juan Mariano, and for his first term, this policy worked. In 1959, Margovia recorded a 5.17% increase in GDP, and Antonio used this to his benefit by using it as one of his reelection campaign points, and when he was reelected, he used this to entice foreign investors into investing in Margovia. For his second term, Antonio focused on improving Margovia's infrastructure, which had not been tackled much by previous administration. At the beginning of Antonio's second term, an estimated 70 percent of roads in Margovia were classified as "unpaved/dirt track". He created the Ministry of Roadworks and National Infrastructure on May 6, 1959 and allocated 56 million margots for the ministry to improve the country's road, rail, and water networks. By 1961, only 10-15 percent of Margovia's road are under the "unpaved/dirt track" classification, and the country's rail network had been expanded from a mere 150.1 kilometers in 1959 to over 1,348.15 kilometers by 1962. This, and Margovia's economic peak, became Antonio's main campaign points for his second reelection campaign. In foreign relations, Antonio made efforts to conduct trade negotiations with the Western world, as his predecessor's moves to improve relations with the Soviet Union did not sit well with many Margovians. New trade agreements between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan most probably helped to boost Margovia's economic peak in 1962. Unfortunately, Antonio lost to Socialist Party of Margovia candidate Juan Barbaro in the 1962 presidential elections by a mere 11,069 votes. Juan Pedro Dominador Barbaro Palacio of the Socialist Party of Margovia became the tenth president of Margovia on April 6, 1962. He was the first Margovian president born after the Margovian Revolution, and his youth won him many supporters throughout the country. In his first term, the Margovian House of Representatives impeached two senators and one representative after they were found guilty of "misappropriation of public funds," a crime punishable by permanent ban on running for public office. This improved Barbaro's popularity ratings, and it also led to one more peak for the Margovian economy because it convinced people and investors that their money was finally going to the right places once again. Barbaro won a second term after he defeated the Activist Party candidate German Moreno (not to be confused with ) in the 1965 national elections. During this term, the Margovian economy went into another downward slope, but the decline was not as great as that experienced in the Depression years. Barbaro kept the decline to a manageable level, with an averaged 0.7 percent drop in GDP for his nine remaining years in office. His skills in economic management made sure that he was elected to one more term, and he eventually lost to , the first (and only) president to serve four continuous terms as president, in the 1971 national elections. The only thing that people thought was wrong with him was that he was a Socialist. Though not a Marxist-Leninist, Barbaro openly expressed his appreciation and approval of the Soviet Union's policies, and he sought to continue the work begun by Andrés de Quilla and strengthen Margovia's diplomatic relations with the Communist Bloc. But Barbaro was smart enough to realize that to turn Margovia into a communist nation would not be a popular move with almost the whole country, so he only enacted socialist policies that would serve to benefit the people of Margovia, such as the nationalization of some of the country's vital state monopolies for oil, agriculture, mining, and heavy industry. Barbaro's vice president for most of his first two terms was his wife, the Russian-Margovian feminist , who advanced women's rights to the point that Margovian women were finally to join the Armed Forces in a combat role. Unfortunately, Divina died on June 22, 1965 of natural causes, and Barbaro was forced to continue on with his campaign for Margovia alone. Gil Bruno Ladislao Sykes de Cartagena, a Margovian of English descent, was elected the eleventh president of the Republic of Margovia on April 6, 1971. Sykes firmly believed that the reason behind Margovia's latest economic decline was Juan Barbaro's socialist policies with his nationalization of important state monopolies. Sykes tried to reverse this by privatizing said monopolies once again, but the downward trend that Barbaro had worked so hard to slow down accelerated once Sykes took the helm. This, coupled with the return of widespread corruption in the government, served to bring Margovia down from the ranks of industrialized nations into a sort-of limbo between industrialized and newly-industrialized. Many people who will eventually become famous (or infamous) in future years, like the actress-singer , began rising through the ranks of Margovian politics during Sykes's time, and most likely got her first taste of power there. She was eventually nominated as Sykes's vice president after his current one, Benedicto Anta, died in office in 1981. Sykes would later on be diagnosed with dissociative personality disorder, and the first signs of this would reveal itself when he secretly allowed CIA agents the use of a Margovian Air Force base from which they could stage out of and help oust Chilean president in the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat, while openly denouncing America for supporting a coup against a legally elected leader of a sovereign nation. Ladislao Sykes became the first person to serve four full terms as president of Margovia. Alberto Baba Kaharo Felito Baluarte was inaugurated the twelfth president of the Republic of Margovia on April 6, 1983. The son of Margovian-Arbat parents, he had high hopes that he can singlehandedly solve all of Margovia's problems. He used everything in his power to try to bring Margovia out of the deep economic pit that Ladislao Sykes had brought the country into, but he only achieved minimal progress. In his three years as president, Felito only experienced a rise in economic power in the last year of his term, and it proved to be too unstable to maintain. In 1986, Felito refused to run for a second term, as the numerous problems of the country proved too overwhelming for him, and he decided to endorse then-Senator , who seemed to be the most likely man to win the coming 1986 national elections. The stage seemed set for a popular and skillful leader to take control of the reins and lead Margovia out of the dark ages of its recession and bring it back to the light of prosperity. Unfortunately, another leader, just as popular but not as skilled, took over and led Margovia deeper into the abyss. : La Mujer Caudillo de Margovia , , , and .| | }} María Susanna Lorenza Boleshita Cumplído became the thirteenth president of Margovia on April 6, 1986, in questionable elections. Months before the elections, she led a party coup against Roberto Elemento, who was supposed to be the Federalist Party's frontrunner for the presidency. Once Boleshita had control over the MFP, she named herself the new presidential candidate for the Federalists. Margovia began descending into chaos when Boleshita first took office, and large numbers of gangs, criminals, and vigilante groups popped up and began wreaking havoc across the countryside. Protesters flooded the streets of Icól, calling for Boleshita to put an end to the chaos gripping the nation. Boleshita "acquiesced" to the protesters' demands placing the entire nation in a state of martial law on August 31, 1988. Nationwide curfews were established, and a massive police presence was deployed to the highest-risk areas, such as the port town of Los Llamas, Pontivál, Ciudad Arbát, Arbát, and Ciudad Banano and Ciudad Escorpión in Bonjoaya. Many people feared that Boleshita would imitate and establish herself as a dictator after declaring martial law in Margovia. One of those people was Brigadier General Gabriel Remóntado, an Army officer who had been opposed to Boleshita's presidency from the start. During the chaos immediately preceding Boleshita's declaration of martial law, Remóntado had gathered a small group of like-minded officers and asked them if they were ready to do the right thing and save Margovia from "the idiots and demons threatening to destroy the very fabric binding our nation together." : The One-Day President On the night of September 6, 1988, Gabriel Remóntado marched with the vanguard of a column of troops loyal to his cause to the first span on the Pozzorubío Bridge, one of two bridges connecting the Margovian Palace, which had been built on an island in the middle of the Rio Utúcu for easy defensibility, to the city of Icól itself. Once there, he ordered the 500th Artillery Company to open fire on the Palace. Six armor-piercing rounds blasted large holes in the Palace's facade, Remóntado, accompanied by the 88th Remontado Guards Rifle Division, known colloquially as "Remóntado's Professional Gunners," marched down Pozzorubío Bridge and entered the Margovian Palace to little opposition. Remóntado was a little surprised to find that Boleshita was not in the Palace, and he surmised that Boleshita had decided that she would rather flee the country than face Margovian justice. He took advantage of the opportunity and immediately declared himself president. El General de Brigada Gabriel Romualdo Remóntado Buenaventura became the thirteenth president of the Republic of Margovia on September 7, 1988. The Judge Advocate General of the Margovian Army, El General Major Elias Bojorquez Avíla, officiated the ceremony. Remóntado hinted in his speech that he planned to return Margovia to "its free and fair state" as soon as more pressing matters such as rioting on the streets had been solved. However, before he could say more, a sniper from Boleshita's loyalist army shot him in the neck, killing him instantly. While Remóntado's supporters tried to regroup around their fallen leader, the main components of Boleshita's army struck back at Remóntado's soldiers with an unbelievable fury. Thus began Margovia's Seven-Day War. The Seven-Day War: Boleshita Regains the Presidency If Israel had a Six-Day War, then Margovia had a Seven-Day War. As its name implies, it was a war that lasted seven days, fought between Susanna Boleshita and her supporters and troops loyal to the late Gabriel Remóntado for control of the presidency of Margovia. The war's major battlefields were Icól and Ciudad Arbát, but the Battle of Ciudad del Celebridad of September 10, 1988 also affected Margovia deeply in that it almost destroyed the country's greatest cultural symbol, the City of Celebrities itself. Eventually though, Remóntado's Professional Gunners, or what was left of them, surrendered to Boleshita on September 13. She ordered six high-ranking officers of the Gunners to be executed by firing squad, and the rest of the surviving troops to be dispersed among Margovia's political prisons. Remóntado's Professional Gunners, for the meantime at least, had been totally and utterly disbanded. Boleshita returned to the Margovian Palace on September 14, ignoring the dangers of a palace being renovated. She announced that she was ready to pardon all those who participated in Remóntado's coup d'etat, if they promised not to pull off another such stunt again. Meanwhile, martial law remained in place until April 1, 1989, a week before the coming presidential elections. , the presidential candidate whom Boleshita had overthrown and disgraced three years ago, struck back at her with a vengeance. He and his supporters from the Margovian Federalist Party split off from the main party and formed their own, which they called the Free Federalists' Party of Margovia. Elemento used his charm and charisma to unite the other four main parties in Margovia, the Liberal, Colorado, Socialist, and Activist Parties to his cause, and he called this union the Grand United Opposition. In the first four days of vote tallying, Elemento appeared to have a large lead over Boleshita, but on the fifth day, the number of votes for Boleshita suddenly exploded, and she was inevitably declared the president of Margovia once again. Elemento and the GUO cried foul over "the obviously rigged elections," and he called on the Margovian people to "rise up and unite in a mass demonstration against low-handed trickery." : The Rightful Leader On April 10, 1989, armed citizens stormed the Margovian Palace, overwhelming the garrison soldiers through sheer numbers. The armed citizenry captured Boleshita, and placed her under house arrest in an apartment building in Icól guarded by more armed citizens. Roberto Elemento was brought in to the Palace guarded by even more armed citizenry, and the citizens occupied almost every building within a kilometer-wide circle that had a direct line of sight to the Palace to prevent a repeat of Gabriel Remóntado's one-day presidency. Juan Roberto Edilberto Elemento O'Connor was sworn in as the fifteenth president of the Republic of Margovia on April 11, 1989. Like Remóntado before him, Elemento promised to return Margovia to the "grand old days of freely elected leaders." Unfortunately, he did not get to do this because thirty days after being arrested by the armed citizenry, Susanna Boleshita was rescued by loyalist soldiers, and she rallied many of her supporters from the Armed Forces to her cause and launched a counter-coup against Elemento. Icól was besieged by Boleshita's army, and Boleshitist gunboats blockaded Icól's river ports to prevent supplies from reaching the defenders, and the siege was put in place for seven weeks. With the citizens of the city starving to death, Elemento himself surrendered to Boleshita, and begged her to lift the siege. Boleshita was happy to oblige, on the condition that Elemento allow himself to be imprisoned along with his supporters. Boleshita's Third Term: Rise of La Mujer Caudillo When Boleshita returned to the presidency on May 30, 1989, she began the process that would turn Margovia into her personal territory. She jailed even more political opponents like Roberto Elemento, Baba Felito, and her former vice president, Anatolio Baetiong, who defected to the Elementists during his coup. She also abolished all political parties except her own Margovian Federalist Party, and if any politicians wanted to run for a position in Boleshita's Margovia, they should either join the MFP or not bother campaigning at all. She dissolved the Margovian National Congress, as well as all of the Provincial Congresses, and replaced it with a single Supreme National Assembly of Margovia. The Assembly, composed entirely of Boleshita's supporters, suspended all future national elections "that fall within the lifetime of our exalted president." Boleshita also took a leaf from Francisco Franco's book and added the label "La Mujer Caudillo de Margovia" (English: The Female Head of Margovia) to her official title. With Anatolio Baetiong arrested for becoming part of the political opposition, Boleshita named , a famous actor with an unimpressive political record, as her handpicked vice president. Return of the Political Opposition In 1992, Boleshita allowed some of her political opponents who were not in jail to form an opposition party, which she called the Margovian Union Party. The three politicians who first agreed to joining the Union Party were , , and . The three of them were also known as the Margovian Triangle, since they were very popular and influential with the Margovian people. The Union Party entered the Supreme National Assembly with twenty seats, and Boleshita made sure that the Unionists could not get more than at least one-third of the Assembly's seats. The Rise of | 's "redecoration" of the National Assembly Hall}} It was at this time that was appointed president of the Supreme National Assembly. The first openly homosexual politician ever named to the office (who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1990), Cortés set about transforming (or redecorating, according to him/her) the National Assembly Hall into a pink "abyssal hellhole," in the words of Roberto Elemento. He/she ordered that the Hall be painted a shade of pink between fuchsia and carnation, which he/she called "abyssal pink." The entire building was also adorned with full-body pictures of Cortés in a variety of clothing items, and there were some visitors, both local and foreign, who swore that they had seen full-body pictures of Cortés naked. On June 16, 1995, Maldonado, Cutter, and Llamanzares were arrested by the Margovian National Police for "subversive activities against the nation and La Mujer Caudillo," although rumors were that the Margovian Triangle had refused to have sexual intercourse with Cortés, which enraged him/her to the point that he/she ordered the MNP to arrest the three. Many people feared that this would be the beginning of another political crackdown but Boleshita, after talking with her protege, calmed him/her down enough to stop him/her ordering more arrests on the political opposition. Meanwhile, on January 18, 1996, Roberto Elemento, Baba Felito, and Anatolio Baetiong escaped Calsoncios Provincial Jail and fled to parts unknown, presumably to renew their rebellion against Boleshita. The Actors' Revolt Category:Margovya Category:Politics (History of Margovya) Category:People (History of Margovya) Category:War Category:Military